Going Green: The Ups and Downs of an Eco-Friendly Existence

Dubbed the localvore movement, a new dietary trend encourages people to eat only food grown within a 100-mile radius of their homes. Thanks in part to best-selling books such as Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the movement has gained momentum over the past year. And because my editors seem to think that I’m some sort of postmodern hippie because I bike to work, they volunteered me to write a story about what it’s like to eat locally for one month.

The argument to eat locally is threefold: eating food produced locally supports small-scale farmers who are struggling to survive in an increasingly corporate farming culture. At a time of rising concern about climate change and energy consumption, it’s a good idea to decrease the distance food has to travel, cutting down on carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. And perhaps most compelling, local food often tastes better, because it’s fresh.

On the other hand, local food is fresh only during the local growing season, which in New England is relatively short.

“Our society is pretty spoiled,” says Carl Hills, who owns Kimball Fruit Farm in Pepperell, Mass. “No one’s willing to alter their eating habits, so people expect to eat tomatoes in January and asparagus in November. Consumers are completely out of sync with the natural growing season.”

Small farmers like Hills survive largely because they sell their crops at local farmers markets. In fact, Hills says the farthest he transports what he grows is 60 miles, which means he charges less than customers pay at the grocery store. Supermarkets are paying a goodly amount for ground and air transport and have to pass that on to consumers. In her book, Kingsolver reports that each food item in a typical U.S. meal travels an average of 1,500 miles before it reaches a kitchen table. “Americans consume about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen — about 17 percent of our nation’s energy use — for agriculture,” she writes. “A quick way to improve food-related fuel economy would be to buy a quart of motor oil and drink it.”

Put that way, eating local food for a month makes a lot of sense. But, where to start? My Cambridge apartment is surrounded by concrete on all four sides, so planting a garden is out of the question. I decide to try my luck at Whole Foods Market, conveniently located across the street.

There, I find sweet corn and collard greens and some tomatoes from Maine. In the dairy section, I come up with a package of local Gouda cheese and butter from Maine. I eye my pitiful supply of groceries.

On average, Whole Foods sells products — ranging from produce and dairy items to frozen food and baked goods — from about 200 New England vendors. But those products are not necessarily things I want to eat. Plus, I’m trying to limit the distance my food travels to 100 miles or less.

The next day, I look up the locations and hours of the more than 20 Boston farmers markets. Most are held weekdays during business hours, and all are at least a mile from my office. Luckily, there’s one in Brookline every Thursday, and so four days later I bike to Coolidge Corner in search of locally produced food. I am not disappointed. The market sells food from at least 20 vendors, many of whom stock organic products. I am surprised at the vast selection of produce and somewhat overwhelmed by the hordes of elderly women elbowing me in their mad scramble to the goat cheese buggy.

Tentatively, I approach the market’s  Kimball Fruit Farm stand, which sells some 20 varieties of tomatoes. I examine a large mottled green and yellow tomato called a green zebra, which according to its description is sweet with a spicy, zingy taste. I buy two, along with some carbon and some red brandywine tomatoes, green beans, carrots, two peaches, and a bundle of garlic. Elsewhere, I purchase organic eggplant and sweet corn, spinach, peppers, apples, cheese, and a half-dozen free-range organic brown eggs.

My final stop is Cyndi Barnes’ fish stand, where I buy a pound of Nantucket bluefish. My grand total comes to $41.20, which is less than I pay for a typical week’s worth of produce at Whole Foods. Now all I have to do is schlep it all back to the office. I heave my bulging backpack onto my shoulders and pray the fish doesn’t spoil.

Kingsolver tell us that if every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week that consists of locally grown and organically raised meat and produce, we would reduce oil consumption by more than 1.1 million barrels every week. As I’m having my local produce dinner and a glass of skim milk from Richardson’s Dairy — I had to drive 20 miles to Middleton and back for that — I wonder: will my little experiment make any difference?

Most definitely, says Carol Smith, co-owner of the family-operated Smith’s Farmstead and Smith’s Country Cheese of Winchendon, Mass. Smith isn’t talking about oil consumption; she’s talking about preserving a way of life. “If we’re not careful, all of New England’s rural land will be sold for commercial purposes, and large corporate farms out West will supply the food for the entire country,” she says. “Any time you support local agriculture, you’re contributing to the survival of the small farmer and to the preservation of regional farmland.”   

For the following three weeks, I eat locally as much as I can. I cook up a huge batch of black bean soup using local peppers, onions, garlic, eggplant, carrots, and spinach. In fact, the only ingredient that doesn’t come from Massachusetts is the black beans. I bake my own bread and eat it with local butter and honey. I make lasagna made with local vegetables and homemade sauce, and when I dine out, I go to only independent, locally owned restaurants.

I eat well. The food is wholesome, and it tastes good. For the most part, the prices I pay for produce are comparable to those at Whole Foods, although milk, eggs, and cheese are much cheaper when bought directly from the farmer. The biggest obstacle I face is finding time to bike to the market during the busy workday. I also miss eating tropical fruits, such as bananas and pineapple.

It’s hard to argue that eating locally is not a great idea, but it’s easy to demonstrate that it’s not always practical, particularly for someone who works full-time and lives in the city. And there’s the seasonal issue. In another month, the farmers markets will be closed until June. The likelihood of my learning how to can between now and then is nil, so come November, I’ll be back shopping at the supermarket.

In the meantime, I’ll visit the farmers market as often as I can, and when shopping at the grocery store, I’ll cough up the extra $2 for local milk and eggs. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll even live in an apartment with a yard and grow green zebra tomatoes.

Click here to read about "Going Green, part one: Car crazy."

Vicky Waltz can be reached at vwaltz@bu.edu.